Is it really ethical to defy evacuation orders?

FILE-- In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, rescuers bring people out by boat in the wake of superstorm Sandy in Little Ferry, N.J. Despite days of dire forecasts and explicit warnings, hundreds of thousands of people in New York and New Jersey ignored mandatory evacuation orders as Superstorm Sandy closed in. Now, after scores of deaths and harrowing escapes, emergency officials say they will look at what more can be done to persuade residents to get out when their lives are in danger. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Photo By Mel Evans/Associated Press

FILE - This Nov. 2, 2012 file photo shows New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, right, meeting Bonnie Miller after touring devastation from superstorm Sandy in Brick, N.J. Christie admonished Miller when he found out she stayed in her home that was severely damaged during the storm. Despite days of dire forecasts and explicit warnings, hundreds of thousands of people in New York and New Jersey ignored mandatory evacuation orders as Superstorm Sandy closed in. Now, after scores of deaths and harrowing escapes, emergency officials say they will look at what more can be done to persuade residents to get out when their lives are in danger. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

As Superstorm Sandy bore down on the barrier islands of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie gave stubborn residents one more thing to worry about. Their decisions to defy evacuation orders, he said, were “selfish” and morally unjustified.

“This is putting first responders in significant, significant danger,” the Republican governor said. “It is not fair to their families for you to be putting them in that danger because you decided that you wanted to be hardheaded.”

As storm cleanup continues, so also does the moral debate.

The idea of evacuation as a moral duty has gained traction among some officials, theologians and hurricane survivors. Others find the notion uncompassionate and a threat to individual liberties.

The issue hits a tender chord since rugged individualism is a defining value of U.S. culture. Megastorms like Sandy, however, are fueling conversations about the limits of that ethic as they expose how interdependent people ultimately are.

“There's a need to have a discussion about this,” says the Rev. James Keenan, a moral theologian at Boston College. “We need to educate people that morally, you can't simply say, ‘I'm not going.' It's not simply a matter of choice. It's actually a matter of responsibility to the common good.”

Keenan admits that a rare few might be justified in not evacuating, but nearly everyone who can leave has a duty to do so.

Some hurricane survivors agreed. As Hurricane Katrina neared landfall in 2005, Andrew Price canceled plans to evacuate New Orleans when his mother refused to go. A helicopter rescued them after five days.

At refugee centers, he saw what police confronted among those who didn't evacuate. “When I think of the police officers and the Coast Guard who had to come and rescue us, I think you're behaving immorally if you have plenty of warning and decide to ignore it,” he said.

But other storm survivors say it's not so simple. Deidra Hodges could have left New Orleans before Katrina hit, she said, but decided to ride it out with her two middle school-aged children. She was on a tight budget and couldn't afford a hotel room. She never expected to require a helicopter rescue and challenged those who deem evacuation a moral imperative.

At times, those who refuse to evacuate feel a moral responsibility to hunker down. When Sandy hit, Mark Denhard of Ocean City, Md., told CNN's HLN network: “I'm just here trying to protect my family and my property and a bunch of my neighbors' properties.”

Some say rugged individualism has a moral dimension that isn't always fully appreciated.

It's unclear whether discussions about moral duty and interdependence will affect thinking beyond disaster preparedness. But as long as big storms keep captivating attention for days or weeks on end, Kirk said, Americans will keep seeing up-close how individual decisions have wide ripple effects.

“We're more interconnected,” he said, noting social media. “So we're more aware of the consequences of decisions, not only for the person who chose to stay on the barrier islands, but also for the rescuer who was put at risk.”